Item Details

Huxley, Aldous.

Huxley, Aldous. T.H. HUXLEY AS A MAN OF LETTERS. Family Copy.

London: Macmillan, 1932.

1st Edition. Soft cover. Imperial College of Science and Technology, Huxley Memorial Lecture. First and only edition. 8vo., 28pp. Printed wrappers. A very good or better example showing light use. This is a unique copy of a scarce work. Julian Huxley's copy with his signature at the head of the front cover. Also signed on page 1 by the author Aldous Huxley - who published Brave New World the same year. Huxley [Julian] came from the distinguished Huxley family. His brother was the writer Aldous Huxley, and half-brother a fellow biologist and Nobel laureate, Andrew Huxley; his father was writer and editor Leonard Huxley; and his paternal grandfather, the subject of this lecture, was biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, famous as a friend and supporter of Charles Darwin and proponent of evolution. His maternal grandfather was the academic Tom Arnold, and great-grandfather Thomas Arnold of Rugby School.' 'Thomas Henry Huxley PC, FRS (4 May 1825 Ealing, London - 29 June 1895 Eastbourne, Sussex) was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Huxley's famous 1860 debate with the Lord Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce was a key moment in the wider acceptance of evolution, and in his own career. Wilberforce was coached by Richard Owen, against whom Huxley also debated on whether man was closely related to apes. Huxley was slow to accept some of Darwin's ideas, such as gradualism, and was undecided about natural selection, but despite this he was wholehearted in his public support of Darwin. He was instrumental in developing scientific education in Britain, and fought against the more extreme versions of religious tradition. Huxley coined the term 'agnostic' to describe his own views on religion, a term whose use has continued to the present day, and which throws light on his demanding criteria for proof in science. Huxley had little schooling, and taught himself almost everything he knew. Remarkably, he became perhaps the finest comparative anatomist of the second half of the nineteenth century. He worked first on invertebrates, clarifying the relationships between groups that were previously little understood. Later, he worked more on vertebrates, especially on the relationship between man and the apes. Another of his important conclusions was that birds evolved from dinosaurs, namely, small carnivorous theropods. This view is widely held today. The tendency has been for this fine anatomical work to be overshadowed by his energetic controversial activity in favour of evolution, and by his extensive public work on scientific education, both of which had significant effect on society in Britain and elsewhere. His most famous descendents are the third generation offspring of Leonard Huxley: 'Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, grandson, FRS (June 22, 1887 - February 14, 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, author, humanist and internationalist, known for his popularizations of science in books and lectures. He was the first director of UNESCO, founding member of the World Wildlife Fund, and was knighted in 1958. His work in zoology was broader even than his grandfather: it included ethology and wildlife conservation, genetics and development as well as evolution. His two sons were both scientists of note: Anthony Julian Huxley, a botanist, and Francis Huxley, an anthropologist. Sir Andrew Huxley OM FRS, grandson (b 1917, son of Leonard Huxley and Rosalind Bruce) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 jointly for work on nerve impulses. Andrew is the second Huxley to become President of the Royal Society (1980-85).' 'Aldous Leonard Huxley, grandson (July 26, 1894 - November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963. Best known for his novels and wide-ranging output of essays, he also published short stories, poetry, trave.